The selection of apparel to ensure a proper fit has always required knowing the relevant size(s) of a man's physical dimensions. When purchasing clothes off the rack, specific physical dimensions are needed to make the a proper size selection. For selecting a shirt:, the size of the sleeve length, neck and chest are needed. For selecting pants, the size the inseam and waist are needed. If the person is present, these sizes can be tape measured or the apparel can be tried on for fit. The problem in making a proper selection arises when the person is not available or is not measured accurately. This invention solves this problem if the height and weight is known or can be measured.
The apparel industry has recognized that a person of expertise is needed to make an accurate measurement. Usually in clothing stores an expert is not available for measuring at the time of purchasing or certain measurements cannot be easily taken. The measurements made by a lay person are often incorrect. Ten different people can measure a person and arrive at ten different measures. The solution to the problem has been to develop a relationship between the size of a garment and a set number of physical measurements.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,681,740 to Meyers shows a sizing wheel that determines undergarment size based on a three measurements. The three measurements are chest, waist and trunk. British Patent No. 684,903 computes a suit designation of Regular or Long or Extra long or Standard or Portly or Stout based on the measurements of chest size, waist size and height.
The use of height and weight for determining clothes size for men is not a novel concept. The magazine, Made To Measure, on page 152, features a table that allows men to select their clothes size based on a range of weight and height. Likewise JC Penny catalog, for 1993, on page 49 and for 1995, on page 58 show a similar table for selecting men's clothing. These tables suffer from an inability to accurately allow one to select the proper clothes size for a broad spectrum of the population. In 1989, the inventor published a more complete table of male sizes, however this table lacked the comprehensive data to produce an accurate table that would cover a broad spectrum of adult males.